al-Niffari On the Station of Works – Abdur Rahman’s Corner
Peace, one and all…
The Mawaqif of al-Niffari is a ground yet dense and difficult early Sufi text. Not much is known about it’s author, al-Niffari. The small selection offered below was introduced to this one during a recent sohbet. Its beauty and profundity struck me immediately and deeply. I was left with a sense of joyful bewilderment.
May the hearts of the lovers be opened.
The Station of Works
He stood me in [spiritual] works and said to me:
I only made you manifest to make you stand firmly by My attribute, not for your attribute.
You do not stand firmly for My attribute but through My attribute. And you stand firmly for your attributes, not through your attributes!
As you come to Me in prayer so do you come to Me in your grave.
If your will is to remain firmly before Me in your work then stand before Me without asking of Me or escaping to Me. For if you ask of Me and I withhold from you, you return to the asking not to Me, or you return to despair, not to asking. And if you ask of Me and I give you, you turn from Me to what you were asking for. And if you escape to Me and I give you refuge you turn from Me to the security of escaping what you fear.
I want to lift the veil between Me and you, so stand before Me because I am your Sustainer, do not stand before Me because you are My servant!
If you stand before Me because you are My servant, you will incline towards that which servants incline. And if you stand before Me because I am your Sustainer My eternal wisdom will come to you to intervene between your Nafs and you!
Know your attribute in which knowledge does not leave you and know your attribute in which you do not fail to do your work then you will know and not forget, and you will work and not lose your resolve.
If you do not know your attribute you will know and forget and you will work and lose your resolve so you will work in accordance with what remains of your knowledge and you will abandon work in accordance with what intervenes of your
forgetfulness.
Weigh knowledge on the scale of intention and weigh work on the scale of sincerity.
Excerpted from Kitab al-Mawaqif of al-Niffari
